Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez skipped the Summit of the Americas and headed to Cuba for medical treatment after he was recently diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma, according to reports.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro made the announcement from Colombia, where he was in attendance for the meeting in place of Chavez, according to the Washington Post. Maduro told a local television station that the president was advised by doctors not to attend the summit.

The Post reports that the decision for Chavez not to attend the meeting with President Barack Obama and other world leaders could spark questions about the Venezuelan president’s political future.

“For more than a dozen years he has been at the center of attention at these hemispheric gatherings,” Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington, D.C., told the news source. “His cancer, coupled with political problems at home, constrains his regional and global role.”

Venezuela’s asbestos consumption put in spotlight

President Chavez’s diagnosis of mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer, puts Venezuela’s use of asbestos under the microscope. The country, which was one of the earliest adopters of asbestos in South America, was the second-largest importer in 1960.

Between 1960 and 1975, Venezuela’s asbestos imports grew six-fold, and in 2010 the country consumed an estimated 910 metric tons, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Though that number pales in comparison with countries like India and China, the simple fact that asbestos use has not been banned in Venezuela raises major questions.

Chavez, who is running for re-election in October, recently told a group of supporters that his strength has been impacted by the radiation therapy he’s received, but added that he was “doing well,” according to the Post.

Asbestos-related illnesses remain prevalent around the world

While countries like Venezuela have not banned the use of asbestos, a number of others have done so. Still, asbestos-related diseases such as malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer continue to be diagnosed around the world.

A mesothelioma diagnosis for a major public figure like Hugo Chavez sheds light on the reality that asbestos exposure remains a significant crisis. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 107,000 individuals around the world succumb to asbestos-related diseases each year.

The Middlesex Guildhall in London is the location of the Supreme Court.

A step towards justice for asbestos victims took place this week by a ruling made by the UK Supreme Court which could allow thousands families of people who died after exposure to asbestos to have greater access to compensation.

The new ruling by a panel of five Supreme Court justices determined that insurance liability for disease sufferers should be placed at the time of asbestos exposure, rather than when symptoms appeared.

This ruling has major ramifications for people looking to obtain asbestos compensation as it can take decades for asbestos illnesses – which include malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis – to manifest symptoms. By placing the liability at the time of exposure, thousands more people could be able to file claims.

One justice of the Supreme Court, Lord Clarke, said:

“The negligent exposure of an employee to asbestos during the [insurance] policy period has a sufficient causal link with subsequently arising mesothelioma to trigger the insurer’s obligation.”

Unite, which is reportedly the largest trade union in Britain and the Republic of Ireland, said that the ruling will have a positive impact for asbestos victims and their families. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said:

“It is a disgrace that insurance companies went to such lengths to shirk their responsibilities.”

Commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision, Nick Starling, director of general insurance and health at the Association of British Insurers, said:

“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court has confirmed what most in the industry have always understood – that the insurer on cover when the claimant was exposed to asbestos should pay the claim, rather than the insurer on cover when the mesothelioma develops.

The worldwide medical community has agreed for nearly five decades that asbestos exposure could cause a number of serious illnesses including malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis. However, that has not stopped Canada from continuing to mine and export the naturally occurring substance.

Despite the efforts of the Conservative government and the shameful lobbying of industry groups, it appears that the bell has finally tolled for at least part of the Canadian asbestos industry.

LAB Chrysotile Inc. recently filed for bankruptcy, according to the Montreal Gazette. The news provider reports that the company is one of two potential asbestos firms that could survive.

The bankruptcy, combined with the halting of operations at Quebec’s Jeffrey Mine, means that there are currently no active asbestos mining operations in Canada.

Company buries head in sand, says it will seek to continue

LAB, and the Canadian asbestos industry as a whole, denies that chrysotile – or white – asbestos is a health risk if it is handled properly, despite the irrefutable evidence that exposure to the substance can cause deadly diseases.

The company’s CEO Simon Dupéré says that he hopes that operations at the asbestos mine will soon pick up under a new structure, and also alludes to the fact that his industry is the victim of a smear campaign.

“I’m convinced we can relaunch the mine. We’re going to push for a plan of action, talk to all the players,” he said to the Globe and Mail. “We’ve been fighting [the negative publicity]. I’m convinced that this product can – and is – used in a safe fashion.”

Asbestos shipped to developing countries

Much of the asbestos is sent to developing countries around the world, most notably India. There, industry advocates say, the material is needed due to its insulating properties and resistance to flame.

“It’s prized in many places as a low-cost infrastructure-building material,” says Dupéré.

However, it is unlikely that all people in these countries are fully aware of the dangers of asbestos. And even if they were aware it is impossible to protect one’s self completely from exposure to the substance

This exposure can cause malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.

All told, the World Health Organization estimates that such asbestos-caused illnesses claim the lives of 107,000 people each year around the world.

Vibration Response Imaging: Non-Invasive Diagnosis

Vibration Response Imaging is a new non-invasive pulmonary imaging technology designed to help clinicians diagnose, assess, and treat various respiratory conditions, and may prove to be one of the biggest medical breakthroughs since the development of the ultrasound.

VRI is designed to capture dynamic images which are not currently available using any other lung imaging system. The technology registers vibration response energy generated by air flow inside the tissue of the lungs to create a real-time structural and functional image of the respiration process. It uses passive vibration energy that is naturally created within the body’s organs to produce a dynamic image of the organ. It is real time, and non-invasive and free from radiation. This technology has the potential to be applied to virtually every organ of the body.

Reports from Europe are promising

From Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2010 May;37(5):1185-90. Epub 2010 Feb. A total of 58 subjects with lung cancer underwent evaluation by VRI prior to lung resection surgery and to evaluate postoperative lung function after surgery, and concluded VRI was high accurate, non-invasive and simple to use.

Deep Breeze Ltd

Vibration Response Imaging, patented as Deep Breeze Ltd., was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Or-Akiva, Israel. The American launch of Deep Breeze Ltd.’s VRIxp(TM) lung imaging system, for aiding in diagnosis and monitoring in the emergency department was recently announced at the American College of Emergency Physicians’ annual meeting from September 28, 2010 to October 1, 2010.

Several months ago I posted an entry describing the upcoming IMIG meeting in Kyoto to which I had been invited. I gave the keynote address at the legal affairs session and spent the rest of the time learning a great deal about recent developments in the diagnosis and treatment of mesothelioma. Our firm, along with the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, was a platinum sponsor of the event. In addition, for the second consecutive conference, we had the privilege of being the financial sponsors of the IMIG Young Investigator Awards. This year awards were given in honor of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, and BANJAN, the Japanese organization of victims and advocates focusing on ensuring that asbestos is banned in Japan and appropriate compensation is provided to its victims.

I have delayed publishing anything about these awards in order to give IMIG the opportunity to post the news on its own web site, which it has now done. Please take a look so that you can get some idea of the outstanding work done by these investigators. We have refrained from publishing the winning abstracts online. We hope that the conference organizers will be able to publish these abstracts in the formal public peer-reviewed medical literature so that they can be circulated far beyond those who received the published volume of abstracts.

We are very proud to have been given the opportunity to sponsor these awards, and hope to do so in the future. Look for additional updates in months to come about IMIG 2012, to be held in Boston, and IMIG 2014, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa.

The International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) reported in November 2010 that China adopted a new national industry standard to prohibit asbestos in construction siding and wall materials. China’s rule will go into effect June 1, 2011.

The rule focuses on “flat” products which are used generally in permanent structures. It is being issued by an industry body concerned with building design and so the architects, who are responsible for choosing the raw materials to be used in construction projects, will likely specify safer alternatives.

The rule may, however, have less impact on asbestos-cement corrugated sheeting which is often used for temporary buildings or for more low-end construction.

China is today the world’s largest asbestos consumer and also maintains a large asbestos production industry.

For such a large consumer and producer, this new standard is a strong statement, and it’s not the first of its kind. In 2003 China acted decisively, banning asbestos in automotive friction materials. In 2005, importing or exporting amphibole asbestos, including amosite and crocidolite, was banned. China also prevented asbestos use in large-scale efforts such as the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2010 Asian Games building projects.

In light of these restrictions, increasing numbers of producers are turning to asbestos-free technology with some trade bodies in China lobbying their members to phase out asbestos use altogether.

This new industry standard is an important step forward towards a total ban on asbestos use and production. And it should be seen as a clear warning to the asbestos industry that the movement to ban asbestos is gaining ground.

We have recently published news reports about the potential reopening of a chrysotile asbestos mine in Asbestos, Quebec, Canada involving major investments from Indian industrial concerns supported by a large loan from the provincial government of Quebec. Those seeking to justify this purely commercial transaction are continuing to recycle the old claims that “controlled use” of asbestos is perfectly safe, even in Third World developing countries. However, over the past century and continuing to the present, no Quebec asbestos manufacturer or mining company, even with the support of the Provincial Government and the scientists and physicians at McGill University, has ever been able to ensure the safety of Canadian workers. How they think that Quebec industry and government will be able to ensure the safety of Asian workers in the future is a mystery.

In light of these developments, it makes sense to take another look at the recent commentary published by the Collegium Ramazzini in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene this past August. The Collegium is the world’s most respected academic society devoted to occupational and environmental medicine and has no business or commercial interests at all. The Collegium’s paper summarizes the current state of scientific knowledge, describes the worldwide use and limitations on use regarding asbestos, and concludes with an unequivocal call “to protect the health of all – now and in future environments – the Collegium Ramazzini again calls on all countries of the world to join in the international endeavor to ban the mining and manufacture of all forms of asbestos.”

The wisdom of the Collegium’s position could not be more obvious. It is far past time for the Government of Quebec to put the health of the world’s workers above preserving a few local jobs and making a few Canadian and Indian businessmen even wealthier than they already are.

We know that for all practical purposes, the only known cause of mesothelioma is exposure to asbestos. Yet, in many cases, lawyers for asbestos defendants and their insurance companies argue that there is no evidence that workers in a particular occupation, trade, or area had enough asbestos exposure to be a cause. Often the occupational setting is clear – insulators, pipefitters, drywall mechanics, etc. have well-documented exposures. But sometimes it takes a lot of digging to find the connection. A recent paper by C. Mensi and others titled “The Upholsterer and the Asbestos” provides a wonderful illustration and a helpful reminder that sometimes one has to dig a little deeper to find the connection, but it’s an effort worth undertaking.

In the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, all cases of mesothelioma must by law be reported to the Lombardy Mesothelioma Registry which then undertakes a further inquiry to ascertain the relevant facts. This case involved a 63 year old man with confirmed mesothelioma, but no source of asbestos exposure was easily found. It turned out that he had spent much of his adult life working as an independent upholsterer, manufacturing covers, stuffing, and padding for mattresses, sofas, and armchairs. To make the upholstery stuffing, he collected about 450 pounds (200 kilograms) of cotton waste material each year, which came to him in the form of bales of recycled cotton, wool rags, and cloth.

Fortunately, the Registry knew of literature in Tuscany that established a relationship between asbestos exposure and the handling of secondhand clothing by workers directly involved in that industry; the asbestos seemed to come from the recycling of jute sacks that had originally been used to ship asbestos fiber to local industrial concerns. These bags were also shredded and used for mattress padding. This led to a suspicion that the upholsterer might have had indirect asbestos exposure from handling bales of waste materials. Fortunately, tissue specimens were available at the hospital, and these were subjected to scanning electron microscope analysis which revealed markedly elevated levels of mostly chrysotile asbestos in the lung tissue, which confirmed an intensive occupational asbestos exposure that would otherwise have escaped notice. Congratulations to the authors and the Lombardy Mesothelioma Registry for a fine piece of detective work.

ADAO Estimates Asbestos-Caused Lung Cancer Claims More than 5,000 Americans Per Year

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), the largest U.S. organization serving as the voice of asbestos victims, today announced its support of November as National Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Lung cancer is one of the leading respiratory diseases caused by asbestos exposure, surpassing even mesothelioma – a well known asbestos-caused cancer. Based on the estimated annual rate of mesothelioma deaths at 2,500 cases per year from NIOSH World Respiratory Disease Surveillance, ADAO estimates more than 5,000 American die from asbestos-caused lung cancer. Most scientific estimates suggest two lung cancers for every one mesothelioma death.

ADAO encourages participation in the National Shine a Light on Lung Cancer Vigil hosted by The Lung Cancer Alliance, to be held Thursday, November 4. Participants will share stories of survivorship and honor loved ones as they illuminate glow sticks in a united vigil. Interested parties can sign up via the Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) Vigil website .

Linda Reinstein, CEO and co-founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, states, “With exposure to asbestos comes many forms of often incurable disease, including lung cancer. Statistics show one in five women and one in twelve men diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked. ADAO looks forward to joining the lung cancer advocacy communities during this important month of education and advocacy. We applaud the Lung Cancer Alliance for bringing this issue to the forefront by sponsoring their vigil, giving individuals the chance to share in specialized tributes to loved ones, while also raising important awareness about lung health.”

A number of prisons in Kansas will need to undergo asbestos abatement after an audit conducted by the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) revealed that guards and inmates were possibly exposed to the deadly mineral.

Two prisons are scheduled to have asbestos removed, but dozens of other detention facilities throughout the state may need to have abatement conducted in the future, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

“Asbestos-containing materials were found in various buildings at DOC facilities,” Bill Miskell, spokesman for corrections department, told the news source. Asbestos was commonly used as a flame retardant and insulator in older structures.

He said that the state would remove pipe insulation, floor tiles and any other material that may contain asbestos. The audit and subsequent work were a direct response to the report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that showed that KDOC had bungled previous instances of asbestos removal, according to the Associated Press.

The EPA’s March report revealed that an asbestos abatement project at Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF) violated federal law. In 2005, prisoners who were not trained to handle asbestos and who were not given adequate protective gear were ordered to use heavy machinery to pulverize floor tiles to aid in their removal.

The EPA determined that by not testing the tiles for asbestos and failing to safeguard against asbestos exposure through training, respiratory equipment and proper supervision, TCF violated the Clean Air Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act.

The incident prompted the KDOC to respond by testing all of its facilities for asbestos. Specifically, private contractors, who were paid $170,000, examined structures in El Dorado, Ellsworth, Hutchinson, Larned, Norton, Stockton, Wichita, Lansing, Winfield and Topeka.

“We want to ensure that any KDOC renovation or repair project is done in a safe and appropriate manner and that the one project found by the EPA to be inappropriately done remains an isolated event,” Miskell told the Capital-Journal.

As a result of the investigation, a total of $75,000 will be reallocated to cleanup asbestos at prisons in Lansing and Winfield.

The Lansing Correctional Facility will undergo $68,000 worth of work to remove asbestos-containing pipe insulation above a restroom, classroom and library. The Winfield Correctional Facility will have asbestos ceiling removed from three hallways as well as pipe insulation taken out from various locations at a cost of $7,000.

At TCF, the audit found that thousands of square feet of floor tiles contained asbestos. However, Miskell said it was not an immediate danger to anyone and that it would be removed in the future.

“The department will have it removed by an asbestos abatement contractor at a time when further renovation is done on the building,” he told the news provider.

However, some are not happy with the KDOC’s decision to hold off on removing the offending materials in its facilities. One such person is Jane Carter, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, a labor union.

“Why not remove it now?” she told the news source. “They’re putting inmates and staff at risk, but also the public.”

According to the Capital-Journal, the audit also revealed that asbestos was present in Hutchinson Correctional Facility’s flooring, walls, pipes and ceiling; Norton Correctional Facility’s insulation, ceiling and floor tile; Stockton Correctional Facility’s floor glue and vinyl sheeting; Wichita Work Release Facility’s mechanical and boiler rooms; and Larned Correctional Facility’s flooring, pipe joints and insulation.

“Why wait until something bad happens and someone is exposed?” said Carter.

Asbestos exposure can cause malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. According to the World Health Organization such illnesses kill 107,000 people worldwide each year.